Category Archives: Work

Hotels have been advocating the responsible use of towels for years. Hang them up if you’re willing to use them again, or leave them on the floor for a replacement. But what about the complimentary soaps? The ones hotel guests leave behind after checking out even if they’ve hardly been used?

Thanks to the Basel-based SapoCycle Foundation hotel soaps throughout Switzerland are now being recycled in a way that not only benefits the environment, but also saves lives and provides jobs. That’s definitely amazing enough to put a smile on my face!

Dorothee and Rudolf Schiesser set up SapoCycle in 2014, and already more than 40 hotels across Switzerland are contributing solid soap bars to the program on a regular basis. Moreover, 25 Swiss hotels from the AccorHotels Group have just joined the scheme.

Participating hotels are responsible for collecting the used soap bars and sending them on to SapoCycle partner WohnWerk. This organization takes care of the recycling, thereby creating jobs for disabled people in Switzerland.

The recycled soaps are then distributed to countries with high child morbidity and mortality rates caused by acute lower respiratory infection and diarrheal illnesses. Did you know that more than 1.5 million children under the age of 5 die each year from these illnesses, which could be prevented by hand washing?

In our CVs, we should be encouraged to include some of the life lessons we have experienced and learnt from. In the same way that a qualification in biology, for example, indicates a given level of knowledge and practical ability, the experience of regaining balance and joie de vivre after a distressing relationship breakup, or finding a creative outlet and alternative life focus after a serious illness or the loss of a job, are noteworthy indicators of personal achievement.

In Western societies dominated by the illusion that each person should be busy every second of the day, continually striving to get more – money, status, possessions – or to get sufficient – enough money to pay the bills – it can be easy to forget to enjoy the moment and give thanks for what’s going well in our lives. Modern day technology has the potential to free up human time; however, technological advances might well have made us busier, instead. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have experienced a sinking feeling in my stomach when, on returning to my office after a short holiday, I’ve found my in-box brimming over and, at the same rate at which I’ve replied to a pile of emails, new ones were already coming in. It can be difficult to step outside this busy way of life, not least because of the expectations and requirements that we might be under to perform in a certain way and at a particular rhythm. All the same, even short pauses of some minutes throughout the day to step outside the treadmillof life in order to breathe and focus inwardly is very empowering and can restore a sense of positivity even in the midst of chaos and deadlines.

Having experienced unemployment on numerous occasions, in particular after her resignation from Green Crosses, Joy was especially sensitive to her condition. She felt that all people had the right to work – even more, to have work that was satisfying and rewarding. Humans had created a social system in which a person’s identity was closely related to the job or profession he or she practised. If you didn’t have work it was as if you had lost your identity and your worth. People didn’t know how to interact with you any more. They immediately made assumptions that you were lazy or not good enough. Of course Joy recognised that these perspectives were erroneous. Worth and identity came from inner qualities and a person’s ability to respond positively in moments of crisis and difficulty – like this one.

“If people want to find work but can’t, life can’t possibly be about what you do. That just wouldn’t be fair,” said Joy, looking up at Gino – still nestled in his arms. “So if life’s not about what you do, I guess it’s proof that life’s about who you innately are.”